Splitter: 3.1/168 Forum

[Socratease]

Short bio: Finished undergrad at an east coast state school in May. Low gpa due to substance abuse issues which have been resolved. 168 on the Sept LSAT. Working now with the mayors office in Austin, TX.

Would like to go to UT--does my employment with the city help in the admissions process? If so, how much?

Other schools I'm considering: Vanderbilt, WUSTL, GW and Georgetown.

Retaking in Feb for a 170+. But as of now, what are my chances for Georgetown and UT? Any advice y'all have is appreciated.

[loslakers]

Short bio: Finished undergrad at an east coast state school in May. Low gpa due to substance abuse issues which have been resolved. 168 on the Sept LSAT. Working now with the mayors office in Austin, TX.

Would like to go to UT--does my employment with the city help in the admissions process? If so, how much?

Other schools I'm considering: Vanderbilt, WUSTL, GW and Georgetown.

Retaking in Feb for a 170+. But as of now, what are my chances for Georgetown and UT? Any advice y'all have is appreciated.

personally i think you've got a great chance at getting into both. but i dont know how much money you can expect from either.

[Socratease]

Thanks for the response.

A lot of people on here seem to think that GULC or any of the lower T14's aren't worth attending at sticker. I'm not convinced. If the choice is between GULC at sticker and a T20 with a modest scholly, I'm inclined to think GULC is the way to go. Go big or go home right? At what scholarship amount is GULC "worth it"? Is there a consensus on this?

[floatie]

Thanks for the response.

A lot of people on here seem to think that GULC or any of the lower T14's aren't worth attending at sticker. I'm not convinced. If the choice is between GULC at sticker and a T20 with a modest scholly, I'm inclined to think GULC is the way to go. Go big or go home right? At what scholarship amount is GULC "worth it"? Is there a consensus on this?

Overall I agree with you, but one thing to note with GULC is that their employment numbers are a lot worse than other schools in the T14 and even in the T20 - being unemployed or underemployed with $250k in debt isn't an ideal situation. It's up to you if that risk is worth it.

[cavalier1138]

Thanks for the response.

A lot of people on here seem to think that GULC or any of the lower T14's aren't worth attending at sticker. I'm not convinced. If the choice is between GULC at sticker and a T20 with a modest scholly, I'm inclined to think GULC is the way to go. Go big or go home right? At what scholarship amount is GULC "worth it"? Is there a consensus on this?

You aren't going to find many people saying "Go big or go home" here. Lawyers tend to be extremely risk-averse people.

The problem with Georgetown in particular is that its employment numbers are not all that much higher than the next three schools down. The rest of the T14 have a significant jump in biglaw/fed-clerk, but for some reason Georgetown isn't up there. So in general, a decent scholarship at a T20 school (as long as you want to practice in its general region) is going to be better than Georgetown at sticker, because you're not really sacrificing that much in terms of employment options. And if you want to go to UT, it sounds like Texas is where you want to work. So in that case, UT is going to be better than most of the lower T14.

[AJordan]

Have also lived in Texas. Seeing as it's so insular and seeing how you want to practice there I think attending GU instead of UT would be a mistake at the same price point. I'm just imagining a firm making a decision on you and wondering why you left Texas for a school that is ranked essentially the same as UT and worrying about your ties and retainability.

I would offer the opposite advice for someone in DC considering going to Texas for school before coming back to DC for what it's worth. Admittedly this is anecdotal but I think a demonstrated loyalty to a geographical region matters in localized hiring, especially somewhere as insular as Texas.

Having said all that I would try to retake to 171 and have to make the difficult decision of UVA/Texas instead of Georgetown/Texas. Good luck.

[ponderingmeerkat]

Have also lived in Texas. Seeing as it's so insular and seeing how you want to practice there I think attending GU instead of UT would be a mistake at the same price point. I'm just imagining a firm making a decision on you and wondering why you left Texas for a school that is ranked essentially the same as UT and worrying about your ties and retainability.

I would offer the opposite advice for someone in DC considering going to Texas for school before coming back to DC for what it's worth. Admittedly this is anecdotal but I think a demonstrated loyalty to a geographical region matters in localized hiring, especially somewhere as insular as Texas.

Having said all that I would try to retake to 171 and have to make the difficult decision of UVA/Texas instead of Georgetown/Texas. Good luck.

I agree with all your takeaways for OP.

That being said, I disagree Texas legal hiring is uniquely insular. Seattle is uniquely insular. Miami is uniquely insular. Texas is just run-of-the-mill, typical-of-legal-hiring-everywhere insular. Meaning, if you went to HYSCCN you have a shot. If you went to a mid-level-T14 that traditionally places well in Texas (UVA/Duke) and have the grades, you have a shot. If you have Texas ties and went to GULC/Vandy/WUSTL/Emory and have even better grades you have a shot. If you lack ties or T14 credentials, you're advised to target UT (or SMU w/scholly if you want Dallas, UH w/scholly if you want Houston, etc.)

This all being in stark contrast to Seattle, for instance, where you better go to Ewe Dub Law or you're kinda outta luck (ok, if you went to highschool in the Seattle metro region and undergrad in state but foolishly pursued your starry-eyed dream at HYS and finished above median then they might MIGHT forgive your youthful indiscretion and give you a shot). Change Seattle to Miami and add the requirement that you be of Cuban descent and it's a similar dynamic. Point being Texas isn't nearly like this at all.

Texas is simply indicative of how legal markets are most everywhere, quite frankly.

[Specter1389]

Have also lived in Texas. Seeing as it's so insular and seeing how you want to practice there I think attending GU instead of UT would be a mistake at the same price point. I'm just imagining a firm making a decision on you and wondering why you left Texas for a school that is ranked essentially the same as UT and worrying about your ties and retainability.

I would offer the opposite advice for someone in DC considering going to Texas for school before coming back to DC for what it's worth. Admittedly this is anecdotal but I think a demonstrated loyalty to a geographical region matters in localized hiring, especially somewhere as insular as Texas.

Having said all that I would try to retake to 171 and have to make the difficult decision of UVA/Texas instead of Georgetown/Texas. Good luck.

I agree with you that if the OP is considering UT at sticker and Georgetown at sticker, that UT is the better bet if they want to work in Texas. In state tuition and a cheaper cost of living make it a much better deal. LST has the debt financed cost of Georgetown at $309k and UT-Austin at $195k.

If OP gets a 171, then they have a decent shot at UVA (although almost assuredly at sticker). I don't think UVA at sticker is worth it either because you're still looking at $285k in debt. However, a 171 is likely to get money from Georgetown, Michigan, and Northwestern as well as Texas. At that point, it's a tougher decision depending on what each school offers. All of this is hypothetical though until OP has acceptances and scholarship offers in hand.